Welcome my constant readers. Please come in from the cold and take shelter inside my cobweb ridden museum of Nintendo history. Ignore the many ghosts that frequent the gloomy halls– whilst they wish you a terrible fate, you have only to turn your terrified eyes to them to ensure your survival.

Our journey will be a long, perilous one but please do not fear. I will be your guide and protector as we uncover some relics from the annuls of Nintendo history. There are many spirits here, both evil and friendly and we must keep moving to avoid a grisly fate. I promise you the journey will be a worthwhile one, full of nostalgia and hazy, stolen memories.

Now, take these Deku sticks, light them in the fire to your right and follow me down this seemingly endless staircase. Keep your wits about you and most importantly enjoy the ride!

2 Responses to “Top Ten: Nintendo Innovations”

Nice List! Enjoyed the write-up. Some other gaming mainstays (or former mainstays) that Nintendo helped bring to the masses either by creating them or just making them more common through massive commercial success:

1.) Battery-backed saves: The original Zelda was innovative for so many reasons. Doing away with loooong passwords was just one of them!

2.) The analog stick: Nice to see the Z-trigger shout-out, and while Nintendo wasn’t the 1st to have analog controls, it was the 1st to truly utilize it successfully. It was hilarious to see Sony scramble to change their PS1 controllers after the N64 hit the market (remember, the original PS1 controller only had directional buttons!) much like how Sony also scrambled to make the dual “shock” after the N64’s rumble pack. Yes, if you want to know Sony’s future, just look at Nintendo’s present, Kind of like the Sony “Move” looks like a Wii-Mote. We’ll probably see a “pad controller” with the PS4, which leads me to…..

3.) Innovating entire genres: Let’s not forget that before “kart-racing” was a genre, there was the original Mario-Kart for SNES. I think we take for granted how successful/innovative the first iteration of this genre truly was. Little Big Planet Racing, Crash Team Racing, or (insert here)-racing really don’t have much on the Mario-Kart series.

4.) Along the same lines, the Smash Bros Style Brawler: See Playstation Battle Royale. If this sells well, expect to see an Xbox iteration down the road.

5.) “Z-Targeting”: There’s debate about Nintendo creating lock on targeting (see 1up.com’s current Mega Man Legends vs. Ocarina of Time write-up) but Nintendo definitely brought it to the masses. Plus, I’d bet dollars to donuts that other developers of the 32/64 bit era looked to Ocarina of Time for guidance when developing games in 3D space.